Post pointing machine



s. BQURDON Pos-TV PQINTING MACHINEv Jan.. 15', i963 2 Sheets-Sheet I,

Filed. May 13, 1960 QQW. ,Mm Y wa ww: www1 0 www i .weed Y @w .,WWWPWWNMMMWMJN Q. on@ ..ilmn I .l .4 |-L l 1, J ou vm la .mm 9m. Mmmm www Jan. 15, 1963 s. BoURDoN 3,073,362

PosT POINTING MACHINE Filed May l5, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' United tates The present invention relates to a machine for pointing or trimming posts and more particularly fence posts.

The main object of the present invention resides in the provision of a machine of the character described which has a great cutting speed and is relatively inexpensive to build an can be carried on a truck or other motor vehicles.

Yet another important object of the present invention resides in a post pointing machine of the character described in which the sharpening operation is effected at great speed and with a minimum of vibration, said machine capable of sharpening post of green wood as well as dry wood.

Another important object of the present invention is the provision of a machine of the character described which can be easily mounted on a motor vehicle and directly actuated by the engine of said vehicle from a suitable power take off.

Yet another important object of the present invention is the provision of a machine of the character described in which the cutting blades are rotated at a much greater speed than the conical guide on which said cutter is mounted, to thereby obtain efhcient cutting without any vibration or jerk even when trimming green wood. A

Yet another important object of the present invention resides in the provision of a post pointing machine of the character described wherein the cutter rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the cutter carrying guide.

The foregoing and other important objects of the invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a fence post trimmed or pointed with a machine in accordance with the inven-` tion;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the machine mounted on the frame of a motor vehicle;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the machine;

FIGURE 4 is a section along line 4--4 of 2;

FIGURE 5 is a section along line 5-5 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view ofk the cutter itself;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation on an enlarged scaleV of the rear end of the machine;

FIGURE 8 is a front end elevation, on an enlarged scale of the rear end of the machine, namely the clamping and guiding means of the rear end of the post; s 4

FIGURE 9 isa section along-line 9`9 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10- isy a sect-ion along line 10-10 of FIG- URE9;and f FIGURE l1- is atop schematic plan view, on a reduced scale, of a modification of the machine adapted to be driven by the power take-off of a farm tractor.

Referring now more particularlyto the drawings in which like reference characters indicate like elements throughout, the machine of the invention is adapted to effect sharpening and trimming of the square en'd- Aof a fence post B in order to obtain a point C, as shown in FIGURE 1.

The machine comprises a longitudinally and horizontally extending I-beam 10 disposed with its anges 11 in vertical planes and parallel to each other. The beam 10 forms the frame of the machine in accordance with the invention and can be mounted directly on the chassis D of a motor vehicle or truck E, or can be provided with legs F, as shown in FIGURE 1l, when it is desired that the machine B driven by the power take-olf of a farm tractor T or other prime mover.

i fice 2 An upstanding bracket 12 is rigidly secured to the front part of beam 10 and is provided at its upper end with journal bearings 13 in which is rotatably mounted and is supported the cylindrical part 14 of a rotatable guide on cap 15. Sleeve part 14 of cap 15 is provided with two flanges 16 which abut against the journals 13 for preventing longitudinal displacement of capl 15. The cylindrical part 14 of cap 15 is extended forwardly into a conical extension. 17y terminated by a flared marginal portion 18 defining a mouth for receiving the end of the post B. The frustoconical portion 17 is provided at its two ends with collars 19 rigidly fixed thereto andsupporting journals 20 disposed along a generatrix of the frusto-conical part'17 and rotatably supporting the shaft 21of a rotary cutter 22.v

The cutter 22 consists of a cylindrical solid mass provided at its periphery with two diametrically opposed cutter blades 23 which areremovably secured to thebody 22 by means of bolts 24. v The blades are longitudinally curved into the general shape of an S sovthat their cuttingedge forms a front or leading portion 25 and a trailingk portion 26 for engaging the Wood of the post at points which are angularly spaced. The sharpening` and cutting of the post is thereby facilitated. The cutter 22 projects partly within an elongated opening made along a generatrix of the frusto-conical part 17 of the cap 15'. AV counterweight 27 is attached to the cap 15 opposite cutter 22-in order to dynamicaly balance the cap during its rotation. The counterweight 27 is secured bymeans of thel collars 19. 4 v- The system described hereinabove is driven in rotation by being connected to the power take-off 28 of the truck E or tractor D. The power take-off 28 of the truck E has an output shaft provided with a double pulley 29 which drives a shaft 30 by means of belts 31 and pulleysmounted on shaft 30. The shaft 30 is disposed within and is coaxial with the cylindrical part 14 of rotary cap 15. Shaft 30 can rotate with respect to the cap being journaled in bearings 32 dispoesd within part 14. The forward end of shaft 30 is drivingly connected to a shaft 33 by means of universal joint 34. Shaft 33 is directely secured to the shaft 21 ofl cutter 22.

A speed reducing device 35 is secured to the frame of the truck and its input shaft 36v is driven by shaft 30 by means of the pulley and belt system 37. The output shaft 38 of the speed reducing device 35 drives the cap 15 by sprocket chain 39 and gear wheel 40 secured around cylindrical part 14. The power take-off Z8v is controlled by control arm 41 While the speed reducing device 35 is provided with a control arm 42. These twol devices, namely the power take-off and speed reducing device, are; each preferably provided with a clutch and means for varying the speed of rotation of the cutter 22 and cap 151 Speed reducing device 35 further includes gear means for reversing the rotation of output shaft 38 with respectl to input shaft 36. The cap and cutter rotate in. opposite' direction and at unequal speeds, the cutter turning aty a much greater speed than the cap. For example, with the cap turning at about 10U revolutions per minute the cutter will' rotate at about 3,000 revolutions per minute:

It is clear that the cutter 22 effects a movement ofv transl'ation as' w'elll as a movement of rotation because it is mounted at the periphery of the cap, thus a post B inserted within the cap and held stationary is subjected to the cutting action of blades 23 progressively around the entire periphery of the post. Because the cutter 22 turns at a much greater speed than the cap 15, each peripheral area of the post is engaged several times by the blades 23 thereby resulting in a very smooth cut surface of the post B. Furthermore, as the cutting edge 25, 26 of the cutter blades 23 moves forwardly around the post, it has been found that the machine of the invention can put posts B 3 very smoothly and without any jerks even when said posts are constituted by green wood. Y

The frusto-conical part 17 of the cap forms a funnel shaped member for receiving post B of different diameters. The cutter 22 is long enough for cutting and sharpening posts, the diameter of which may vary.

The rear end of the post B is securely maintained stationary and in alignment with the cap 15 during the cutting operation by guiding and clamping means, more particularly illustrated in FIGURES 7 to 10 inclusive. These means comprise a carriage 43 arranged for moving along beam 10. Clamping jaws 44 are mounted transversely of the beam and carriage 43 and are arranged for transversal movement towards and away from each other for clamping the post B.

The carriage 23 is more particularly constituted by two saddles 45 and 46 which partially enclose the beam 10 underneath and on the side thereof and rigidly secured to each other by means of bar 47. Saddle 45 is provided with a pair of upper rollers 48 in contact with the upper edge of the vertical flanges 11 and with rollers 49 in contact with the lower edge of said flanges 11 of beam 10. The saddle 46 is only provided with a pair of upper rollers 50. As shown in FIGURE 8, the rollers 48, 49 and 50 are vertically inclined in order to prevent lateral movement of the carriage with respect to the beam 10. A transverse small beam 51 is rigidly secured to the carriage 43 on top of the beam 10 and the two jaws 44 are provided with guides 52 surrounding transverse beam 51 and capable of longitudinally sliding therealong in order for the jaws 44 to etect a reciprocatory motion. The two jaws overlap each other and are in sliding contact in order to effect a shearing movement. The opposed inner edges of the jaws are cut out to form angular recesses 53 in order for each jaw to contact the post B at two spaced points of its periphery.

A control lever 54, pivoted at 55 on a notched sector 56 secured to the transverse small beam 51, produces the transverse displacement of the jaws 44 by means of link 57 pivoted at one end to said lever 54 and at its other end to a crank member 58; the latter is pivoted to one end of beam 51 at 59 and at 59 to a link bar 60 itself pivoted at 61 to a second link bar 62 which is pivoted at 63 to ear 64 secured to one of the jaws 44. A lever 65 is pivoted intermediate its ends to the center of transverse beam 51 by means of bolt 66. One end of lever 65 is pivoted at 61 to the pair of link bars 60 and 62 whereas the other end of lever 65 is pivoted at 67 to a third linking bar 68, the other end of which is pivoted to ear 69 secured to the other one of the jaws 44. Thus the lever 65 serve to reverse the movement of one of the jaws with respect to the other, whereby operation of control lever 54 results in opposite movement of the two jaws. The control lever 54 is blocked in adjusted position by means of pawl 70 pivoted to the lever 54 and capable of engaging anyone of the notches made at a periphery of sector 56. The pawl 70 can be released under action of handle 71 and transmission rod 72.

Y A spike 73 is pivoted on one of the jaws 44 for engaging the post B and preventing rotation thereof with respect to the jaws. The spike 73 is controlled by a lever 74 pivoted on the same jaw at 75 and connected to the spike 73 by means of link rod 76.

The machine in accordance with the present invention is furthermore provided with a support 77 disposed adjacent the mouth of the cap 15 and secured to beam 10, to serve for temporarily supporting the front end of post B prior to pushing the same within the cap.

The machine in accordance with the invention is used as follows: A post B having two square ends as indicated at A is positioned with one end on the support 77 and the other end between the opened jaws 44. 'I'he control lever 54 is then pulled in order to cause clamping movement of the jaws and the control lever 74 is pushed downwardly in order to drive the spike 73 into the wood of the post. The cap 15 and its cutter 22 are then rotated and the carriage 23 is displaced along beam 10 towards the cap 15 to insert the front end of the post into the frusta-conical part 17 of cap 15. The rotary blades 23 engage and progressively cut the square end A of the post in order to eventually form the point C. When the cutting operation is completed, the carriage 43 is moved away from the cap 15 and the jaws 44 are moved outwardly to release the post which automatically disengages the spike 73.

While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has been illustrated and described, it is understood that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a fence post pointing machine, a beam, spaced brackets upstanding from said beam, journals at the upper end of said brackets, a hollow rotary cap opened at its two ends having a cylindrical portion rotatably supported in said journals and a frusto-conical portion protruding from said journals, means for rotating said cap about its longitudinal axis, said frusto-conical portion having an elongated opening made along a generatrix thereof, a cutter of generally cylindrical shape and having cutting blades mounted at the periphery thereof, said cutter being journaled on said frusto-conical portion and partially projecting within said portion through said elongated opening, and means for rotating said cutter about its own axis and allowing translation movement of said cutter during rotation of said cap, said last named means including a rst rigid shaft mounted coaxially and journalled within lthe cylindrical portion of said cap and projecting at one end thereof, a second rigid shaft secured to and coaxial with said cutter and a universal joint connecting said two shafts, and power and gear means for rotating said cap and cutter at unequal speeds and in Opposite directions.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, further including a counterweight secured to said cap opposite said cutter for dynamically balancing said cap during its rotation.

'References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 42,504 Phillips Apr. 26, 1864 80,050 Angel July 21, 1868 362,638 Laycock May 10, 1887 733,031 Beck Oct. 19, 1903 1,079,312 Chadwick Nov. 18, 1913 1,356,031 Adams Oct. 19, 1920 2,930,419 Loftin Mar. 29, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 221,113 Germany Apr. 20, 14910 

1. IN A FENCE POST POINTING MACHINE, A BEAM, SPACED BRACKETS UPSTANDING FROM SAID BEAM, JOURNALS AT THE UPPER END OF SAID BRACKETS, A HOLLOW ROTARY CAP OPENED AT ITS TWO ENDS HAVING A CYLINDRICAL PORTION ROTATABLY SUPPORTED IN SAID JOURNALS AND A FRUSTO-CONICAL PORTION PROTRUDING FROM SAID JOURNALS, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID CAP ABOUT ITS LONGITUDINAL AXIS, SAID FRUSTO-CONICAL PORTION HAVING AN ELONGATED OPENING MADE ALONG A GENERATRIX THEREOF, A CUTTER OF GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL SHAPE AND HAVING CUTTING BLADES MOUNTED AT THE PERIPHERY THEREOF, SAID CUTTER BEING JOURNALED ON SAID FRUSTO-CONICAL PORTION AND PARTIALLY PROJECTING WITHIN SAID PORTION THROUGH SAID ELONGATED OPENING, AND MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID CUTTER ABOUT ITS OWN AXIS AND ALLOWING TRANSLATION MOVEMENT OF SAID CUTTER DURING ROTATION OF SAID CAP, SAID LAST NAMED MEANS INCLUDING A FIRST RIGID SHAFT MOUNTED COAXIALLY AND JOURNALLED WITHIN THE CYLINDRICAL PORTION OF SAID CAP AND PROJECTING AT ONE END THEREOF, A SECOND RIGID SHAFT SECURED TO AND COAXIAL WITH SAID CUTTER AND A UNIVERSAL JOINT CONNECTING SAID TWO SHAFTS, AND POWER AND GEAR MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID CAP AND CUTTER AT UNEQUAL SPEEDS AND IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. 